Play involves more than trying to get a high score on a computer game, according to organisers of Microwave International Media Art Festival 2005.
The event's theme is Culture As Play. It includes a media art exhibition, video screenings and a conference that challenges conventional perceptions of play and games.
'We want to open up the idea of play and show people other ways of making playful works of art, said curator Hector Rodriguez, an associate professor at the School of Creative Media at City University (CityU).
'Many people tend to think of play and games in a narrow way because they like to play certain kinds of computer games, which are very standardised,' he said.
'We hope that young people - particularly university or secondary students - will be inspired and perhaps become interactive designers who do more creative things, instead of merely imitating existing games.'
The exhibition, to be staged at City Hall, will showcase a wide variety of installations and online games created by international and local media artists who have combined the concepts of play and art.
For example, I See Where You Are 'In Central' is a PDA game created by local artists Linda Lai, Justin Wong, Alan Fong and Bryan Chung. It explores the idea of public space. Players, in groups of two, must co-operate to search for a target in Central with the help of online technology and a PDA.